Letter: Helping women

By Patti Gillespie, New Bern

Published: Friday, March 7, 2014 at 03:01 PM.

March is Women’s History Month, a good time to celebrate gains and spotlight problems.

Some good news: U.S. female athletes now successfully compete internationally, thanks to Title IX. U.S. women now have a weapon for fighting wage discrimination, thanks to the Lilly Ledbetter Act. U.S. women have new money and power: they earn a combined $3 trillion and make about three quarters of all purchasing decisions in the U.S. And U.S. women now earn more associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees than men.

But challenges remain: In the U.S., women’s retirement funds average $58,800 to men’s $95,700. Women earn less than similarly situated men, about $.77 to the $1. (for African American women, it’s even worse). Women are now the main source of income in about 40 percent of households and a main source in another 22 percent.

Recent budget cuts in N.C. have had disproportionate effects on women. N.C. women suffered more than half the state’s budget-related layoffs in 2011. Cuts of teachers and teaching assistants affected more women than men. Cuts to early childhood programs hurt not only the children but also their families, because mothers now had either to pay a babysitter or stop working outside the home. Now almost 20 percent of N.C. women live below the federal poverty line.

Women who work full time should not live in poverty — and they do: A full-time, minimum wage worker has an annual income of $15,000. About 2/3 of minimum wage workers in North Carolina are women. We could do better.

Patti Gillespie, New Bern

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March is Women’s History Month, a good time to celebrate gains and spotlight problems.

Some good news: U.S. female athletes now successfully compete internationally, thanks to Title IX. U.S. women now have a weapon for fighting wage discrimination, thanks to the Lilly Ledbetter Act. U.S. women have new money and power: they earn a combined $3 trillion and make about three quarters of all purchasing decisions in the U.S. And U.S. women now earn more associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees than men.

But challenges remain: In the U.S., women’s retirement funds average $58,800 to men’s $95,700. Women earn less than similarly situated men, about $.77 to the $1. (for African American women, it’s even worse). Women are now the main source of income in about 40 percent of households and a main source in another 22 percent.

Recent budget cuts in N.C. have had disproportionate effects on women. N.C. women suffered more than half the state’s budget-related layoffs in 2011. Cuts of teachers and teaching assistants affected more women than men. Cuts to early childhood programs hurt not only the children but also their families, because mothers now had either to pay a babysitter or stop working outside the home. Now almost 20 percent of N.C. women live below the federal poverty line.

Women who work full time should not live in poverty — and they do: A full-time, minimum wage worker has an annual income of $15,000. About 2/3 of minimum wage workers in North Carolina are women. We could do better.